A Game Of Hangman
by VanessaAnneEfron
Summary: During detention, Troy decides to tell Gabriella a secret through a game of hangman.TROYELLA Oneshot. R&R.


**AN: Hey guys! No, I didn't die…yet. ;D I'm just simply coming back from a very, very long "vacation." Well, actually I was really having a writers block. A gigantic writers' block to the 847984****th**** power. Yeah, that bad…. Well, I'm trying to figure out what to write about now and thought I'd do a one shot. You know, since I'm a little rusty and all. Ha-ha. Enjoy, hopefully. **

**-------------------------------------------**

**A Game of Hangman**

"Troy stop!" laughed Gabriella Montez, her brown curls flying as her best friend, basketball superstar Troy Bolton spun her around outside school. "We're gonna be late!" She pounded his back with her fist, but all he did was laugh.

"Have a little fun Gabi," said Troy, still spinning her, "The warning bell hasn't even rung yet." Gabriella made a face. She was beginning to feel a bit light-headed.

"Well, can you at least put me down for the sake of my health?" She said. She felt as if she was going to puke at any given moment. Troy sighed and put her down. She stubble a bit and sat on the soft grass.

"Wow, I didn't know you were that light-headed," said Troy, but grinned all the same. Gabriella looked up and glared at him, but then laughed.

"Whatever," she said, "Can we just go inside? I need to get my book before the-" _BRING!_ "-the bell rings." She groaned. "You know, if we miss first period, I blame you." Troy rolled his eyes and just helped her up. As soon as she got up, she wasn't feeling dizzy at all. Her only care was to get to class on time. Gabriella Montez was **never** late, ever. She immediately grabbed Troy's arm and took off to her locker.

"Slow down," said Troy, "You're locker is like 5 feet away from home room." Gabriella tightened her grip on his arm. Troy could feel his cheeks flush at her touch.

"Yeah, but it's all the way across school and-" She stopped and looked at her watch, "-we have 2 and a half minutes to get to class." They darted past the hall monitors who shouted at them incoherently. Gabriella didn't care right now. If they were late, that would mean detention. Detention means getting home late. Getting home late means she'll miss her babysitting duties. After what seemed like forever, Gabriella quickly opened her locker and took out her books. She slammed it shut and ran to the classroom diagonal from her. As she reached for the knob, the bell rang.

"Bolton. Montez. You're late," Ms. Darbus said simply, "Detention. 45 minutes."

"But it was only-" Troy was cut off by the drama teacher.

"Make that an hour," she said, "No back sass." Gabriella and Troy retreated to their seats. Once they both sat down. Gabriella, who sat behind him, punched him hard on the shoulder. Troy winced in pain.

"What was that for?" He whispered mock furiously.

"You just bought us an hours detention," She whispered back, "Thanks to your childish acts, I lose 25 dollars." Troy looked at her confused. "I was _supposed_ to baby sit tonight, but now, I have detention. Thanks." Troy just rolled his eyes at her. Although, he was glad that he and Gabriella would spend time together alone.

**-------------------------------------------**

"Take your seats," said Mr. Woods, "No talking. No horseplay. No laughing. No playing. I'll be back. Now behave." He left the room, leaving Troy and Gabriella alone in detention. They were the only ones there that day, which surprised Troy. Usually Chad would get detention 3 times a week.

"Basically no fun," said Troy. Gabriella laughed.

"What did I say?!" Yelled Mr. Woods, who came back in for a few seconds, and suddenly left yet again. Gabriella couldn't help but giggle. Troy grinned at her. He loved her laugh.

"How does he do that?" said Troy, laughing slightly. Gabriella shrugged and looked around.

"What do you wanna do for an hour?" Gabriella asked taking out her binder.

"Don't tell me you're doing homework!" He exclaimed. Gabriella scowled at him and shook her head.

"I don't have any," She said, "Unlike some people, I do something productive during study hall."

"I do something productive!" Troy defended himself, although he knew that wasn't true at all. Gabriella raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"You call launching paper wads at Chad productive?"

"Well, if you put it that way…" She just laughed again.

"Hey! I know what could pass the time! Let's play a game." Gabriella nodded. "Uhh. Truth?"

"Ha-ha. Okay. You first," she implied.

"Nuh-uh! You go first," he said. Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Fine then. Gosh, baby." Troy mock glared at her.

"Okay then," Troy grinned and looked at he slyly. Gabriella gave him a look. "Ms. Montez, is there something you wanna tell me?" _Yes._

"No," She said simply. Troy's eyes bore into her soul, searching for the truth.

"Are you sure?" _No._ Gabriella nodded. Troy laughed. "You know there's something. Come on…You know you can tell me."

"Actually," she said dramatically, making him laugh, "I just wanted to tell you that I love you." Troy laughed, although he wished she was actually telling the truth. His heart skipped a beat just thinking about it. "Ever since I saw you eat that Sloppy Joe, I knew it was love." She burst out laughing.

"Hey!" exclaimed Troy, "One, it's called **sloppy**. Two, the sandwich was falling apart! What else was I supposed to do? Let it fall on my shirt?"

"You could have at least chewed!" Troy just shook his head, but laughed all the same. He loved these times he had with her. "Okay Mr. Bolton, how about you? Anyone special that caught your eye?" Troy grinned at her.

"Well, yes actually," he said. Gabriella felt a twinge of sadness, but still kept her playful mood.

"Ooooh," she cooed, "Can I get a name?"

"No," he said and she pouted.

"Come on Troy, I'm your best friend," she said, "You can tell me. I won't make fun of you for it."

"Well, it's just that I don't know if she likes me the same way I like her," he said sadly. Gabriella knew he must have really fallen for this mystery girl. Whether she liked it or not, she wanted Troy happy, and if getting them together would do just that, she can live with it. She sighed.

"That's impossible," she said sincerely, "Who wouldn't like you Troy? You're cute, funny, sensitive…" Troy smiled. It meant a lot coming from Gabriella.

"Yeah, but this girl's different," he said, "She- you wanna play hangman?" Gabriella laughed.

"Why the sudden change in subject?" He shrugged. "Uh fine then. But you're gonna tell me sooner or later right?" He nodded and smiled at her.

"Okay, three words," he said as he wrote the blanks on a sheet of paper.

­

"Any hints?" asked Gabriella, as she studied the blanks. Troy Shrugged.

"I don't know what it would be classified under. After about 5 minutes, Gabriella had guessed almost half of it and was about 4 mistakes away from being hung.

T  O L  O ­ S A ­­ I

As Gabriella was about to say another letter, Mr. Woods came in.

"I said NO talking!" He yelled. This time he didn't leave the classroom. He sat on his desk, took out a newspaper, and began to read. Gabriella shrugged and turned to face the clock in the front of the room. They had 20 minutes left in detention. _Boy, does time fly._ Meanwhile Troy was filling out the rest of the hangman game.

"Psst," he whispered, rather loudly, "Gabi. Here, take the-"

"Mr. Bolton!" yelled the teacher, "How many times do I have to say 'no talking' for you to understand that there is **no talking**!" Troy blinked a few times at him. "You have just earned yourself a seat in front on me. Now hurry up." Gabriella looked up at Troy as he dropped a note on her desk, just before gathering his stuff and moving to the front. Gabriella opened the note to find a finished hangman game. In bold letter, it said, _TROY LOVES GABI._ She gasped softly, just before taking out a marker.

Troy looked behind him at the writing Gabriella. His heart was beating incredibly fast. How would she take it? He looked at the clock. 5 minutes left. _Oh thank god. _ He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible and confront Gabriella. For 5 long, heart wrenching minutes, the two just sat there, trying to understand what had just happened.

"You may go," said Mr. Woods, as the clock struck 4:40. They both gathered their things and walked out.

"You want me to walk you home?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said trying to act and sound as normal as possible. "You know? Detention wasn't all that bad. There was only about 20 minutes out of 60 that I was bored."

"Yeah," Troy laughed, still a bit anxious, "Mr. Woods is one…interesting guy." Gabriella giggled. "You know what Gabriella?" He asked, as they neared her house, "I was actually glad to be stuck in detention with you."

"Me too," she said grinning. They were now walking on her front lawn, towards the door. She suddenly stopped. "Oh and Troy?" He turned around, confused. "One more thing." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. Troy was frozen to the spot, but soon warmed to the kiss, his hands resting on her hips. Troy couldn't believe what was happening. She pulled away and smiled up at him. She reached in her picket and handed him a note, just before walking inside. Troy, still taken aback from the kiss opened it quickly. It was their game of hangman. Below the "Troy loves Gabi," was, scribbled in Gabriella's neat handwriting, "Gabi loves Troy."

**-------------------------------------------**

**AN: Woohoo. Hope you liked it. I'm kinda rusty from, you know, not writing for like forever, but I'll come back soon. Make sure to R&R. **


End file.
